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Abstract

 Context: Melasma is a common, acquired, symmetric hypermelanosis, characterized by irregular light to dark brown macules and patches commonly involving the cheeks, forehead, upper lip, nose, and chin. Aims: To study the clinical patterns of melasma in patients attending skin OPD and To study the effect of different therapeutic methods in treatment of melasma. Settings and Design: Prospective cohort. Materials and methods: Patients attending OPD were randomly divided into 3 equal groups to be treated with either topical hydroquinone or topical triple combination or chemical peeling. All patients were evaluated before treatment, followed up for 6 months, peel session done at an interval of 1 month and MASI score was calculated every time. Statistical analysis: Student t test Results: Among 150 patients studied, majority were in the age group of 20-30 yrs [38.7%], females [79%] and belonged to epidermal type [51.33%] of melasma based on woods lamp, centrofacial [74.7%] type of melasma based on clinical findings. There was improvement in the MASI score of all patients in all melasma type [both clinical and woods lamp] irrespective of treatment group and the difference seen was statistically significant in each group [p<0.05]. Conclusion: Triple combination showed better results compared to glycolic acid peels and hydoquinone with no significant side effects with short contact time. Considering the high prevalence of melasma among people with Indian skin type there is a need to study effect of various modalities of treatment used for the same.

Keywords: Melasma; chemical peeling; hydroquinone; triple combination

Corresponding Author : Vijetha Rai, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology, Venereology, Leprology, Srinivas Institute of Medical College and Research Center, Mukka Suratkal Mangalore, Karnataka 574146, India.